Educators say academic success starts at home and parental involvement can help make a good school better.

Glen Iris Elementary School Principal Michael Wilson appreciates all parents who take the time to attend PTA meetings -- sometimes more than 200 parents show up, he said. But Wilson said he would like to know that those same parents supporting the Birmingham school are taking the time to read to their children at home and check their homework.

"That's what makes the difference," Wilson said. "If I knew 100 percent of my parents checked homework, that would be great."

While Wilson is pleased with PTA participation at Glen Iris, he said meetings at his former school, Whatley Elementary, would draw only 20 parents.

Heather Weiss, founder and director of Harvard University's Family Research Project, said there is a clear link between parental involvement and a child's success in school.

In a 2006 study of ethnically diverse, low-income students, Weiss' group concluded that as parents became more involved in a child's schooling, the child's literacy performance improved.

Mike Melvin, principal of Crestline Elementary School in Mountain Brook, said 100 percent of the school's parents and staff are involved in PTA.

"Parents here actually come in before their child starts kindergarten to talk to me about their education, and that's not true everywhere," Melvin said.

The school's PTA has 47 committees, ranging from a committee for field day to music to the school newsletter. "I've been a principal in Auburn, Jackson County, Miss., and Biloxi, Miss., where you almost had to beg parents to become officers of the PTA," he said. "Here, it's considered an honor and a privilege."